


Begin to Mend

by Elleth



Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Darkening of Valinor, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Gen, Loyalty, Mother-Daughter Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-22
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-05-21 16:16:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14918685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elleth/pseuds/Elleth
Summary: Before they can pull themselves out of their grief, Indis and Findis await the arrival of someone else. Five drabbles.





	Begin to Mend

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Isilloth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Isilloth/gifts).



"How can I leave you?" The mosaic stairs pressed cool into Findis' bare knees, her dress as a flower losing petals, as she wept into her mother's bent shoulder. In the dark within the fall of Indis' hair unbound around them, she couldn't see her mother's face - nor did she need to. They shared a grief. The echoes of Lalwen's departure, her steps in the high hall, hadn't faded into nothing for very long. 

_Bereft_ , said Findis' mind. It would make a poor entry in the chronicle that she was compiling, but she couldn't bring herself to care. All gone.

*

"I know why you are staying," Indis said after a silent lapse of time, heartbeats and breaths their measure. Her voice cracked like earth under strain in the worst of summer heat; the air had become stifling and used under the curtain of golden hair. "At least have the honesty to admit that it was not for me only," she said. 

"If you think there is anyone to tempt me from your side, you are wrong," Findis answered. "If she loves me, she will come to us." 

_Bewildered_ , Findis' mind supplied. She resolved to bring Elemmírë there regardless.

*

 _You could do good here_ , Findis wrote, a flutter of hope. _More good than at the conservatory. Come with your music. I need you. We do._ Her quill scratched words onto the paper in the golden glare of scented candles, meadowsweet that was withering sweetly in the fields now, incongruous in the dark laying waste to Aman. The scent became cloying far too soon, and Findis threw a window open, but in Tirion the air was foul and stagnant. She wished she weren't alone.

 _Beloved_ , offered Findis mind, and it crawled inelegantly but sincere over the bottom of the page, beckoning her.

* 

"I promise that I will not leave you," Findis said. "Elemmírë is coming to me, and neither of us have to be alone. Her music may heal you if you let her; you know that it holds Power." Indis' hand lay on her shoulder heavy with worry, fingertips crooked against her shoulder-blade, resisting the movement to pull her closer. "And you know that she taught them - Lalwen may not hold a tune, but Findaráto will, and Makalaurë, and Artanis. They are not defenseless." 

_Believed_ , Findis mind knew, Indis' hand relaxing, her fingers uncrooking, one tired flicker of a smile.

* 

Elemmírë arrived with a song sweeping like a wave of light before her that flooded warm and bright and sweet into the high hall and up to the throne of Indis where she sat in grief. It beckoned their faces and their hair into gleaming, Indis' golden waves and Findis honey curls, and the ripe-wheat strands of Elemmírë. Findis was grateful her laments had all been sung. This was a song to begin to mend on. 

"You sent for me and I came." Elemmírë knelt before the throne at Findis's side, one of Indis' hands on each head. 

_Blessed_ , Findis understood.


End file.
